Bloodlust

chapter thirteen

-13-

I get to Scarlet’s house after what feels like forever. It’s a large white house with a wrought iron fence and a beautiful green lawn. The trees out front have colored leaves, but there are none on the lawn. All the bushes are perfectly tended to and there are still some flowers in the garden. I step up the marble stairs to their large front door.

 I ring the doorbell and Scarlet’s mom opens the door. Her blonde hair is styled to perfection and her whitened smile falters when she sees me.

“Hi Mrs. Quinn,” I say

“Oh,” she says like she was expecting someone else and it’s a surprise to her that I’m here, “Anthony. You’ve gotten pale.”

“Is Scarlet here?” I ask her.

“Why?” Mrs. Quinn asks me, her body language blocking me from the door. She clearly doesn’t want me here.

“I have to tell her something important.” I say.

“She’s in the shower,” she says. “You can wait for her if it’s that important,” I know Mrs. Quinn is using the disdain in her voice to try and get me to leave.

“I’ll wait,” I say and Mrs. Quinn looks very reluctant as she lets me inside their grand front hallway complete with a staircase that any girl would kill to walk down on prom night. We walk to their shiny stainless steel kitchen. Mrs. Quinn has always made it obvious that she’s not a big fan of me. Scarlet just blames it on menopause.

We stand there awkwardly for a few seconds; Mrs. Quinn looks at me like I’m going to steal something. “Your clothing…” Mrs. Quinn starts as she gives me a once over. “It’s quite dark. Is that part of the dreadful teen vampire trend where you deprive yourself of vitamin D?”

My annoyance with Mrs. Quinn shoots up. She was right about the vampire thing. If only I had a choice about all of this. “No,” I say as I try to laugh but it just sounds sardonic, “I’ve been dressing like this for quite some time now.”

“Oh,” Mrs. Quinn says as she raises one her perfectly plucked eyebrows. “Listen Anthony,” she says as she suddenly turns serious. “I don’t want you to suck Scarlet into this little ruse of yours.” She makes an intricate hand gesture.

I’m tempted to reply with biting sarcasm. “I don’t think I could do that if I tried,” I say quietly with a fake smile.

“Oh,” Mrs. Quinn says as she returns my fake smile with a fake smile of her own. She goes serious again like it’s rehearsed and I mentally groan. “Anthony,” she says quietly with perfected fake concern on her face. “What happened to the Anthony that was tan and wore colors? You used to be so happy and colorful.”
“I changed,” I say as Scarlet comes down to the kitchen wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Her blonde hair is wet but it still looks amazing.

“Hey Anthony,” She says and she comes over, “Come upstairs?” She looks at her mom for approval.

“Yeah, sure,” I say.

“Leave the door open,” Scarlet’s mom warns us in a singsong voice. Scarlet looks at me and pointedly rolls her eyes as we head upstairs. We get to her room, which is decorated with all white.

“I am so glad you’re okay,” Scarlet says as she takes out her phone. She pulls me into a quick side hug as she starts texting everyone. “We all thought you were kidnapped, or killed and that they hadn’t found your body. But the thing is, no one talked about it because we didn’t want to have to accept it, you know?” She doesn’t seem to notice that I’m in a hurry or that I look different. “Everyone is going to be so relived,” Scarlet says.